Well, I got stuck with Win 10 when my "take a look" download became an installation all by itself. It wiped out win 8.1, leaving no capability to go back. It also removed Internet Explorer. For the first couple of weeks it was OK, but I was ticked off that its built-in browser (Edge) had no e-mail capability. As I still had Google Chrome, losing IE wasn't a big deal.

Disaster struck after about 6 weeks. It has always been my procedure to turn the computer off at bedtime, and back on the following morning.That particular morning it stopped about halfway through the start-up sequence. I switched the computer off, then back on again. Still stuck. After 5 tries, including disconnecting the power cord and unplugging the receiver for the cordless mouse - still stuck.

Somehow, I got to the troubleshooting section where there was a "Reset" function. There was a mildly-worded warning that it would "return the computer to its original configuration. Whatever you do, do NOT use the Win 10 "reset" function.

In my case, doing the reset wiped out 35 programs. Ten of them I'd added by download (4 paid for, the others freebies). The others, mainly Dell-supplied utility programs, were installed when I got the machine. I got Google Chrome back on and was able to re-install the freebies I had. I got "Open Office" as my word processing program instead of buying a new "MS Office", picked up the free "Paint.net" to replace "Photoshop". Dell supplied replacements for their stuff at no charge. I chose not to re-install some things I don't need. The only replacement I've had to buy was Quicken, which I got on CD, so if this dumb-xxxx Win 10 blows me out of the water again, I will be able to recover. I'm now doing saves a couple of times a day when I've added data to any of the programs.

If it does any more stupid things, Windows 10 is history. I'll either get Win 7 from my son-in-law or even replace my Dell lap-top with an equivalent Apple machine and those arrogant Microsofties can go whistle.

Frank

The following 1 user says Thank You to anacortesdamp for this post:1 user says Thank You to anacortesdamp for this postFiverise (01-11-2015)

I recently upgraded my laptop to Windows10 which I like apart from the fact that the DVD-CD-ROM no longer works. Has any one else had the same issue and how was the situation resolved. Thank you Trevor

My lap-top, which I bought about 8 months ago, doesn't have a built-in CD drive, which was a surprise. My son-in-law, a regular visitor to thrift stores, found a portable external CD drive, still in it's original un-opened package, for $ $4.00, at a Salvation Army store. The original price, under the package wrapper, was $67.95. It's USB powered and doesn't need a separate power cord. It came with its own software and loaded itself just fine. Whether the UK junk stores might have similar bargains, I don't know.

Another thought occurred to me. Since W-10 deletes a lot of stuff when it loads, I'd suggest you go look for the program for it in the software listings. You may find it with the added characters "old" in the program name. W-10's installation did that with Internet Explorer 11 on my machine. Since it didn't screw up Google Chrome, I haven't got round to restoring IE11's original name and re-installing it.

Good luck!

Frank D

The following 1 user says Thank You to anacortesdamp for this post:1 user says Thank You to anacortesdamp for this postwellfield (12-01-2016)

I tried to download 10 onto my windows7 laptop, mainly out of curiosity, as I rarely use it. However it reached the final stage of checking for updates, until I shut it off 2 hours later still checking for them.